


To Know You Give Love So Freely

by CaptainLeBubbles



Series: The Hallmarks of a Family (Hallmarks AU) [3]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Coming Out, Gen, Mother-Son Relationship, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-13
Updated: 2020-03-13
Packaged: 2021-02-28 20:35:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 424
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23133283
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaptainLeBubbles/pseuds/CaptainLeBubbles
Summary: Lanying may not a woman prone to overt displays of affection, but James had to get his heart from somewhere.
Relationships: James Ironwood & Lanying Ironwood
Series: The Hallmarks of a Family (Hallmarks AU) [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1200967
Comments: 2
Kudos: 18





	To Know You Give Love So Freely

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! This isn't one of the v2-v3 shorts I promised, but rather a FLASHBACK short because I had this thought at work earlier and had to come home and IMMEDIATELY write it.
> 
> For those waiting, I'm around about the halfway point on the shorts- hard to say for sure because there's no set length, but I have eight slated and I'm on the fifth, so shouldn't be too much longer. (Unless I add more; y'all may recall I originally said _seven_.)
> 
> James is about ten or eleven here, for reference, and has only shortly had his father lose custodial rights to him.

James doesn’t know how much longer he can hold it in, this thing he is so desperate for Mother to know and yet, and yet, he is so very frightened.

But it is there, always pushing at his teeth, always on the edge of his tongue, and so it is no surprise when, on the way out the door to school one morning, he finds himself blurting out, “Mother, I’m gay.”

She stops in the doorway and turns to him, regal as a queen, and he tries to shrink in place, and then she grants him one of her tiny smiles. “Of course you are. And why shouldn’t you be?”

James shrugs, and stares down at the floor. “Father gave me lots of reasons.”

“Yes, well, your father has no power over you anymore, now does he?”

James shrugs again, still staring at the floor. The mosaic in the tile is blurring together due to unshed tears; he tries to will them back into his body, but they’re refusing.

When he says nothing, Mother sweeps back to him, and her hand, oh-so-gentle, tilts his chin up so that he she can see his face. The tears slide free, and inwardly he awaits the chastising remarks, but instead she gives him a soft smile before cupping his cheek in her hand. He leans into the touch, tears welling fresh at such a small gesture.

“Listen to me, little Ai,” she says. “You are my son. Whoever you love, however you love, I know you will do so with the whole of your heart. That is far more important to me than whatever gender they are. Do you understand me?”

“Yes, Mother.”

He expects that to be the end of the conversation, but instead she reaches up with her free hand and brushes aside another tear as it falls, and then to card her fingers gently through his hair- a soft touch, delicate.

She is not a woman prone to much overt physical affection, his mother, but her hands hold so much love that with only a few touches James can feel all that she feels for him. He relaxes into her touch, held aloft in the cradle of her love.

“There is nothing you need ever keep from me, my son,” she says, cupping his chin in both hands so that he must still look at her. “There is nothing that could ever be so great that you will lose my love for it.”

“Yes, Mother. I love you, Mother.”

“I love you too, James.”

**Author's Note:**

> According to my research, Ai is a Chinese name that means loving, which seemed appropriate for James. However, I'm aware that my source could easily be wrong, so if anyone knows better than me, feel free to let me know! It just seemed natural to me that Lanying would give her son a name/pet name from her own culture, even/especially if everything else about his upbringing was mostly western, but I'm willing to change/edit it if I've messed up.


End file.
